Hofstra Blocking of Stony Brook and Other CAA Notes

For the past week on the CollegeSportsInfo.com forums, we’ve been discussing the CAA and the proposed expansion plans they had which included schools such as VCU, Richmond, George Washington, Davidson, College of Charleston, Elon amongst others. The information was provided via a FOI request by Shadesof48.com, a William & Mary fan site. By requesting emails, the site was able to provide an interesting insight into what the CAA was thinking: a combination of optimism, proactive reasoning, delusions of grandeur, and of course, pettiness.

Whenever there is expansion discussion within a conference, there is always some interesting “soap opera” type of drama. For the CAA, that drama was brought to us by Hofstra. During the CAA expansion process, many questioned the move to bring in Stony Brook for football only versus all-sports membership. The speculation was that Hofstra was blocking their inclusion. And now we know, that was indeed the case.

School presidents and conference commissioners from other minor conferences should use the CAA and the stance by Hofstra as an example of what not to do. When a power conference blocks a school in their backyard from joining, it makes sense…as that school is able to dominate the market financially and would need to split that market with another school. But at the lowest levels of the NCAA, where the television payouts are lucky to reach $500,000 per school, the conferences need to look at the big picture. In the case of the CAA and Hofstra, it means looking at a school like Stony Brook and seeing the positives.

Despite Hofstra being in the CAA, the Long Island region has never been considered “CAA” territory. Instead, it’s a region that is split by conferences like the Northeast, MAAC, CAA, America East and Big East. Hofstra took the stance that they did not want to compete with Stony Brook in their own conference, a shortsighted position. In bringing in Stony Brook, the CAA had the opportunity to actually stake a real claim into the Long Island markets as there can be strength in numbers. Look no further than the Big East. When St. John’s does well, there is more attention to nearby Seton Hall…regardless of if Seton Hall is doing well. With that attention comes opportunity, and the potential for higher quality recruits whom want to compete against some other strong local programs.

As we’ve seen from the CAA expansion route, Appalachian St. joined the Sun Belt, Davidson joined the Atlantic 10, VCU/Richmond/George Washington remained in the A10. George Mason also left the CAA for the A10. As for the CAA…they brought in Elon and College of Charleston.

The CAA sits above conferences like the Big South, Southern and Atlantic Sun for now. But the gap between them and the Atlantic 10’s and WCC’s in the world has grown. Would adding Stony Brook have been a cure for that? Probably not. But at this level in the NCAA, schools can’t be petty and block schools that might actually bring more relevance to the very region the schools are in. So instead of a logical move for the betterment of the conference, we saw something you’d expect in a fantasy footballleague, when instead of bringing in someone who will benefit the league with their passion, instead, a close friend is chosen.

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Hofstra Blocking of Stony Brook and Other CAA Notes, 8.2 out of 10 based on 12 ratings

I just thought of something. Is Hofstra purposely blocking them for another reason? Stony Brook is a public AAU school in the mold of the Big 10 schools. They are growing and becoming a name for themselves the past few years. If they continue to grow much bigger with a bigger football stadium as big as the Big 10 schools? Do you think they will get an invite to that conference? Buffalo is another New York market that is AAU as well.

David Stroud

Stony Brook to MAC? That will get under Hofstra’s skin.

Yup

Mostly hate both schools since they are usually populated with kids that refuse to ever leave the island. That being said, since Hofstra students mainly consist of LI’s version of the Jersey Shore cast, their administrators know that Stony Brook will surpass them as the go-to school on LI. Way better academics already and if Stony Brook joins a better athletic conference than Hofstra is done for.